Alt-Coin Trader

Another Blow to Guantánamo Plan

The Senate Armed Services Committee voted to bar the construction of a military detention center in Thomson, Ill., in a further blow to the Obama administration’s fading hopes of shuttering the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The committee met behind closed doors on Thursday to vote on amendments to the 2011 national defense authorization bill. On Friday, it released a summary of the results, which included the prison issue. The Obama administration has proposed spending $350 million to renovate a prison in Thomson and transfer dozens of Guantánamo detainees there. The House version of the bill contains a similar restriction, so the Senate committee’s decision means the final package is virtually certain to include such a ban.